Thanks for Everything
by skepsis66
Summary: Why am I sitting on your bed? 'You're an Auror under Polyjuice who's infiltrated the Burrow just in case Ron's been Imperio-ed by mum, who's secretly the chef and right-hand woman of Voldie, to go on a homocidal ramage on the Hogwart's Express.' 'Ouch.'
1. Arc I Lavender & Parvati

**Disclaimer:**

JK: sweatdrops If you like it so much, you can have it!

Me: Really!?

JK: Just stop doing that!

Me: Doing what?

JK: That!

Me: Snuggles chibi HP characters obsessively, growling at anyone that comes near, rocking backwards and forwards Muttering can be heard: Mine, mine, all mine. giggles insanely Mine, my own... my precious...

The author is slammed from her daydream in a most abrupt manner when she finds herself posting fiction on a fanfiction site, from which can be deduced, most conclusively, that Harry Potter is, to the author's abject disappointment, not hers.

**A/N: **Inspired by dress-without-sleeves' Nice To Dream, except there's probably going to be more chapters coming up from the perspectives of several different characters. I'll update when I feel like it, so don't expect regular updates. Well, without further ado...

**Thanks for Everything**

Arc I – Lavender & Parvati

'Hey Lav.'

'Hey.'

'What are you doing out here? It's freezing.'

'Nothing, really. And, yes, I know it's freezing.'

'And you're out here on a cold dreary day with no coat? Tsk, tsk Lavender.'

'I like the cold.'

'Since when?'

'Since now.'

'Really?'

'…'

'No chirpy replies or chipper hugs?'

'No.'

'Lav…'

'_What?_'

'Don't tell me you sit here every day and skip stones when there's plenty of other more interesting things to do.'

'…'

'You're getting your designer skirt wet.'

'…'

'Lav? Lav! Gosh, I thought I'll never get you to look at me!'

'What are you doing out here? I mean, it's _cold_ isn't it?'

'Hey! Don't be nasty. And what's with the "What are you doing out here?" You're here aren't you? Best friends have a right to sit next to each other, don't they?'

'I guess… But don't you have "other more interesting things to do"?'

'_Lav_, you know what I meant. What's wrong with you today? I mean, it's not every day you see fashion guru Lavender Brown deliberately dirtying her clothes. So spill – what's wrong?'

'Nothing's wrong. The sky's blue, the trees are green and nothing at all is wrong.'

'Who are you and what have you done with Lavender Brown.'

'What do you mean?'

'…'

'Stop looking at me like that. I'm still Lavender. Remember her? Or am I so forgettable?'

'Stop being so sarcastic – it's unnatural.'

'Unnatural?'

'For you anyways. And stop it with the eyebrow thing – it makes you look like Malfoy.'

'Erch! Malfoy? I can't be compared to bad-hair-day-every-day-Malfoy! Ever!'

'Why not? The vanity, the complete attitude revamp… You could totally be a female version of Malfoy.'

'I am _not_ like Malfoy.'

'You've even got the vehement denial down pat. Malfoy's definitely gay – I've tried to tell him plenty of times before but that boy, that stubborn boy…'

'…'

'What are you giggling for? It's true! Why else would he spend so much time on his hair and be so picky about the brand of his robes?'

'You've talked with Malfoy about his choice in _clothing_?'

'Well, no, per se, but didn't you just tell me a week ago that you noticed he always wore the same few pricy brands of robes? You've always been perceptive about those kinds of things.'

'I did? Well, that doesn't mean that he's gay.'

'It's a sure sign to me that he's on his way to being gay then. And what is it with you? You agreed with me just yesterday that Draco Malfoy wasn't completely on the straight and narrow.'

'…'

'Now you're all gloomy again. Stop pulling out the grass, and look at me. Just tell me what's wrong. You can't avoid it forever, you know.'

'I don't want to talk about it okay? I don't want to talk to anyone.'

'…'

'You don't have to sit here with me.'

'I know.'

'So? Just go then. Go have fun with everyone else, it's not as if I want you here.'

'I'm your _best friend_. I would have thought you understood that by now. I'm not just going to leave you here. I have a duty to carry out. Besides, then we'll be alone together… er, if that makes sense. It'll be like all the other times.'

'…But how can you know?'

'What? I'm not going to abandon you, if that's what you mean.'

'It's not the same anymore – _nothing's_ the same. I-It's like everything's just been, been scooped up and jumbled around and… I don't know what to do anymore.'

'I would say "follow your heart and trust in yourself" but that would be excessively corny.'

'_Parvati_… I just want to be as sure as you. How can you know that you won't change like everything else? That you'll wake up one day a-and _poof!_ You decide that you don't want to know me anymore.'

'_Poof _like magic? Okay, okay! Just lightening the mood – it's getting a bit suffocating around here… And Lav, that has got to be the most ridiculous theory you've ever come up with.'

'Theory?'

'The Pav-wakes-up-and-_poof_-decides-Lav-is-a-moron Theory. I know you're a moron already anyway and you're still my friend.'

'_Parvati_…'

'Yeesh… you've got a creepy growl – alright! Alright!'

'The War's changing everything that we've ever known. How do you know it won't change this? I know it's changing me, so why won't it change you?'

'Lav…'

'Don't try to tell me I'm still the same Lavender "at heart" or something. I know I'm not. I know that I still like the same things and act the same way I used to, but something's changed. Like, like, there's _something_ that's shifted out of place and kept everything the same as before, but made everything different at the same time while everything's changing.'

'Lav, you're not making sense. Are you trying to be philosophical?'

'No. Yes. I-I don't know. It's hard to explain.'

'Of course it's hard to ex- '

'Stop interrupting me – I'm ranting! … I just want to ask someone, you know, God or Merlin, someone who'll know what I mean: why is this all happening? I-I don't understand why the war has to happen _now_. Why we're the ones who have to fight. I feel so helpless sometimes – and that scares me even more a-and I'm terrified, because I've never, ever felt like this before! I'm just not _ready_… not now, not ever.'

'Lav! Listen to me. Just calm down a bi- '

'I CAN'T be calm! I don't know what's going on, I suck at duelling. I want to be a fashion designer for Merlin's sake! I don't fight, or-or kill and battle hordes of D-Death Eaters! That's for Harry, and Ron, a-and H-Hermione! Then I feel guilty because aren't I a Gryffindor too? I-I was sorted there just the same as they were. J-Just look at me. We're here at Hogwarts, where absolutely nothing's happened yet, a-and I'm still scared to death! What am I going to do when something actually happens!'

'I don't know, Lav, but I _do_ know tha- '

'I'm not brave enough.'

'But you _are_. Don't you see it Lav? You're here aren't you? You're scared out of your wits but you're still here, aren't you? You don't want to fight or kill or wait out here until something happens but you – are – still – here.'

'I-I just think I should be less… afraid or something.'

'And meet the danger head-on, with shoulders thrown back? Don't be an idiot Lavender – I know you're not one. That'll only invite an _avada _to the chest. Nobody is completely fearless; you would be an anomaly if you were. It's not a bad thing either. It puts everything into perspective for us, Lav – it helps us appreciate what we have, and what we are fighting for.'

'This isn't really helping, you know. You're just making me feel stupid – like Hermione makes me feel ashamed of myself. Not that she's deliberately doing that. She's perfectly nice… it's just that she's done so _much_ and I, well, haven't really done anything.'

'Oh Lav… You don't have to compare yourself to anyone, least of all to me. As for Hermione, Harry and Ron – even if they've done things we wouldn't have dreamed of doing, so what? So what, Lavender, _so what_? You're not Hermione. I'm sure as not Harry or Ron! We're all allowed to be selfish sometimes.'

'You're saying we're allowed to be selfish but here you are trying to make me feel better. Sitting with a mopey person isn't exactly the greatest thing you can be doing right now… and you're still making me feel insignificant and petty.'

'You're being petulant Lav. You know I'm right.'

'No you're not. You're just trying to make me feel better.'

'I think we've gathered that already.'

'Meanie.'

'Brat.'

'… I don't believe you.'

'Of course you do. You're just too embarrassed to admit it.'

'I hate you.'

'Oh how this conversation has degenerated. Resorting to false insults now?'

'Shut up, you.'

'Passionate arguments aside, I'm just telling you what I think. And even though it's completely clichéd; if nobody else believes in you, I do. Because it's what you do in the end that counts. You could be running away now, before the battle even begins, but you're not. You are not running away, and that counts for something.'

'…'

'I know you're brave enough Lav, even if you don't.'

'Since when have you been so inspirational?'

'Since now? Don't be so hard on yourself, Lav.'

'It's just so hard sometimes, pretending that nothing's different and everything's fine when you don't know what's going to happen… Don't you wish we could really "unfog the future" now?'

'We absolutely _worshipped_ Professor Trelawney, didn't we?'

'Yeah… Remember that time I thought she had really predicted that Binky would die.'

'Or when she told me to "beware a red-haired man".'

'And Ron was absolutely clueless! You were ever so suspicious of him… What about when she said poor Harry had the Grim – that was hilarious. We avoided him for ages after that.'

'Those were the good times, weren't they?'

'I didn't think I would ever say this, but, I miss going to class.'

'I know. So do I.'

'I'm scared Parvati.'

'So am I Lav.'

'I don't want to grow up, or go to war.'

'Me neither, but everyone else is, and it would be very bad to be left behind. That would be the most horrible thing out of them all, I think, being the ones left behind when everyone else is gone.'

'Do you think, do you think we'll make it?'

'Yes.'

'How can you know that?'

'Well you asked me, and I had to give an answer, didn't I?'

'Stop joking around Parvati. This isn't something to joke about. This is serious!'

'What do you want me to say? That I know that we're going to survive this thing because what? I saw it in my inner eye? You want to know if I think we'll really make it out? I honestly don't know. But I think there's a big chance we won't. That we're going to be blown to bits or bleed to death while the Death Eaters that kill us forget our faces and congratulate themselves on another job well done.'

'Parvati!'

'And when the everything's all over and done with, they'll pile up the bodies into a huge grave and all that will be left of us will be four words, two words each, carved onto a stone along with thousands of other names. Then when the next generation of witches and wizards are studying History of Magic with Professor Binns, we'll just be two more tedious names to fall asleep over… And that's only if we win.'

'How can you say that! That's so cruel, a-and heartless!'

'That's the truth Lavender – and the truth hurts. It could happen, you know. Don't say I'm heartless or cruel. You're not the only one who's frightened about what could possibly be the end of our lives! Don't you think I have dreams too? That I have things I've always wanted to do, places I've wanted to go, people I want to meet? Don't you think that I don't feel what you're feeling – what everyone else is feeling – because I do!'

'…'

'… And it was you who wanted me to be all serious about it.'

'I'm sorry.'

'… No, don't worry. _I'm_ sorry. I was just tense. I needed to get it all out… and who better to talk to than my best friend. But still, I shouldn't have said that.'

'It's okay. You were right anyways.'

'… I don't know everything there is to know Lav. I don't know how everything's going to turn out. I don't know if we'll win this thing. Or if we'll make it out of this alive. But I know that we'll be together through it all, like we've always been. All the others – they don't understand us. They think that we're empty-headed floozies with nothing better to do than talk about clothes and shopping. So we have to stick together Lav – we girls stick together.'

'…'

'…'

'Thanks.'

'For what?'

'Everything.'

* * *

Depressing yet hopeful... I just love writing stuff like this! Review! You know you love it!


	2. Arc II Hermione & Ginny

**Disclaimer: **If I were JKR, I wouldn't have named my main character Harry Potter. Goes to show that I'm not Rowling. How disappointed you all must be.

**A/N:** Hehe... I've had this on my laptop for a while now. Just had to brush it up a little and actually be bothered to post it. You know, I would love to have a reviewer of this story. Since in my ever so modest opinion, I really deserve one. I like this story more than my other ones anyway. Inflates with pride See how I've grown as a writer - I can now write dialogue! Tada! (Not that anyone really cares and will actually read this other than me. Since I know I'm not the sort to regularly read ANs). Right - onto the story!

**Thanks for Everything**

Arc II – Hermione & Ginny

'Ginny, did you even brush your hair this morning?'

'Nope. Can't be bothered.'

'Well, if you're sure…'

'Of course I'm sure. It's not as if anyone's going to barge into the Burrow just to see me.'

'You never know though – '

'Yeah, yeah, yeah… someone like Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall might decide to pop in to talk to mum and dad and I wouldn't want to look like this if they just happened to turn up uninvited.'

'So?'

'So what?'

'Are you going to brush your hair?'

'Of course not! I don't care about impressions anyways. We've already met – about ten gazillion times. You can be the one to impress them, once again, with how neat and organized and mature you are.'

'… – '

'Don't say it Hermione. I'm not going to regret it. What is there to regret anyway?'

'Stop interrupting me! And how did you know what I was saying? Don't roll your eyes at me young lady! It's rude to interrupt someone when they're trying to talk.'

'…'

'And don't snort like that. You've probably picked up a multitude of bad habits from your brothers – Ron especially. I don't know how you can tolerate him being around you without trying to explode every day. He's so frustrating!'

'Oh, stop your huffing and puffing Hermione. You only say that 'cause you like him.'

'I do _not _like him!'

'Denial – de-ni-al! You _so_ do like him. See? You're blushing. I knew it!'

'That's ridiculous! Stop jumping around like a monkey. I _don't_ like him. He's just extremely aggravating with his emotional range of a teaspoon.'

'You _like_ him…You _like _him… You _like _him…'

'Ginny! Oh, honestly, stop this puerile nonsense! I _don't_.'

'You do, you do, you do! It's in your tone – you're all indignant. And your face is really red. That just proves it.'

'It doesn't prove anything!'

'Everyone knows about you and Ron – oh stop sputtering – in fact there's a Gryffindor betting pool on when you guys will get together.'

'I don't _like_ – what?! There's a _betting pool_? On when we'll get together?'

'Oh don't sound so incredulous Hermione. It was bound to happen.'

'_Bound to happen_!'

'There is absolutely no way that it could _not_ happen.'

'…Why me?'

'Why you? More like why any potential couples. The Hogwarts Rumour Mill is always churning.'

'Right – and pray tell, what useful information am I going to leach from this so-called Hogwarts Rumour Mill?'

'All the latest rumours and gossip of course! Besides, it's important to know what's going on. You really need to get a personal life, Hermione, apart from those two poor bozos that are your best friends. Men just don't get us sometimes.'

'You're telling me.'

'Yeah, I know. You need to be around us girls more.'

'But it's so different to when I'm with Harry and Ron – girls, well Lavender and Parvati at any rate, they're so… I don't know, aggravating? Coy? … _Giggly_?I still find myself more comfortable around boys than girls.'

'Okay then… Hermione likes _boys_… Hermione likes _boys_… Hermione lik- '

'Stop that!'

'Stop interrupting me. It's rude to interrupt someone when they're trying to talk.'

'Well… stop imitating me then!'

'But I like to imitate you, for example: "I _don't _like him. He's just extremely aggravating with his emotional range of a teaspoon." '

'_Ginny_…'

'Oh, stop nagging. And how did you notice that he had an emotional range of a teaspoon? Hoping that he would finally notice that you lurrved him?'

'…'

'Oooo… Hermione's pouting. You know, you look pretty cute when you pout. Do that around Ron more, maybe then he'll pounce on you. That's what you _really_ want him to do isn't it? Pounce on you and ravish you so you're all – '

'Ginny!'

'Hermione!'

'…'

'No need to moan and groan at me… That's what's Ron's for.'

'_Gin-ny_!'

'Oh, quit your whining Hermione. You know it's true.'

'You, Ginevra Molly Weasley, have _precisely_ _five seconds_ to walk away from this breakfast table and away from me. _Five_… _four_…'

'Erm… okay… backing away here.'

'_Three…_ _two_…'

'…!'

'_One_…'

'Hehe? Dramatic effect… the scraping chair on floor-boards thing…? Right?'

'…'

'Running away now!'

'Ginny!!'

'Up the stairs, girl… ha! My room – my beloved beloved room! Okay, lock the door… Lock, dammit, lock, you blasted thing! … Lock, LOCK!! Argh – stupid! … _Colloportus_! … Phew…'

'GINNY!'

'AHHH!!'

'Open this door this instant! Or I'll blast it open!'

'What to do, what to do?!'

'_EFFRACTUM!_ …You thought you would get away, didn't you?'

'Did I ever tell you just how much I appreciate you Hermione?'

'…'

'Ummm… Is this a stand-off?'

'Tickle attack!!'

'No! Haha – no! … Hermione – hahaha… stop, no, eep!'

'Do you give up!'

'No! Weasleys… hahaha… never giv- haha… stop, Stop! Hahaha…'

'Surrender now!'

'… Never! HAHAHA… No, no… stop! St- hahaha… OKAY! Okay – haha – Stop! I surrender, I surrender! Just… need to catch… my breath.'

'…'

'What are you looking so happy for? Hey, don't stare at me like that! Do I have something on my face?'

'…'

'What? What are you laughing at? _Hermione_... Hmph! I'm not funny! No, I mean, I am, but not… like this, right now.'

'Your incoherency astounds me.'

'Just you wait. You and your big words will get yours.'

'Get what?'

'You, Hermione, you… You're hopeless.'

'I know.'

'Smugness doesn't suit you.'

'Defensive much?'

'You know what, you win. Hows about we just stop here? It's not as if this is going to go anywhere anyways.'

'Resistance is futile.'

'Yeah, yeah, yeah…'

'…'

'Stop your god-damned whistling! You're deliberately trying to annoy me, aren't you! _Hermione_, why did you choose today of all days to get all wacko?'

'Wacko?'

'Yes, you know, round the bend, off your rocker, insane, crazy, all in all mental? Recognize any of them? Hm?'

'Sarcasm doesn't become you Ginny. Besides, why _can't_ I choose today to "get all wacko"? Seems like a perfectly fine day to me – sunshine, rainbows and lollipops; not a cloud in the sky. Cheer up 'ickle GinGin.'

'I don't know you.'

'Oh yes you do.'

'No. I don't.'

'Yes you do.'

'Don't.'

'Do.'

'_Don't_.'

'Why am I sitting on your bed then?'

'Because you're an auror under Polyjuice who's infiltrated The Burrow in order to protect my family under a familiar and seemingly harmless guise. You know, just in case Ron's _Imperio_-ed by Mum, who's secretly the right-hand lady and chef of dear old Voldie, to act normal until we are half-way through our journey on the Hogwarts' Express where he'll go on a homicidal rampage and kill everyone on the train. So really, I don't know you at all. I'm just making conversation to keep up appearances.'

'Ouch.'

'…'

'…'

'Do you really think anyone in the Order could be, you know, a traitor?'

'Well, that was unexpected… Logically, it's quite possible… But I can't really think of anyone who would do something so horrible.'

'Like Peter Pettigrew?'

'Like Wormtail.'

'I still get the creeps when I remember that I used to play and talk to him in my room almost every day before I started Hogwarts, and before he was discovered. And to think that at any time he could have, could have just… upped and killed everyone.'

'And when Crookshanks was all over him, we didn't even realize what was going on. Ron and I fought so many times just because of that dirty rat.'

'… It's just so hard to understand why he, anyone, could do something like that.'

'I know. I can't even _comprehend_ why people would betray their friends to become some sort of branded servant of the Dark Lord.'

'I suppose there's always a reason. Nobody does anything for no reason. Kindness, compassion, hatred, cruelty… I think everyone has a motive somehow.'

'So you're saying I have a motive for sitting here listening patiently to you?'

'Yep. To escape from those horrible boys of yours.'

'Well, I can't disprove you of that. What if I throw a few sickles at a beggar? What's my motive for that? I don't stand to gain anything and I could buy some ice-cream with that money.'

'Guilt.'

'What?'

'Guilt. You'll feel guilty if you just brush him off like everyone else usually does. You're supposed to be kind and compassionate and good, but you can't even give a few coins to a penniless man.'

'I get your point.'

'Haven't you ever wondered what it would be like if you could just know what another person was thinking, so you could find out how they work and why they do what they do?'

'No, not particularly. I suppose I never really thought about "what ifs"; I've always been too pragmatic to do that – no need to wonder about things you can't have.'

'Yeah… but I've always wanted to know why Tom did that to me, you know.'

'…'

'What?'

'Do you really actually want to know?'

'Despite what I'll probably find in there? Yes, I mean, he couldn't have been born that way. I just want to know what happened to make him like that. You want to know what I think?'

'What do you think, then?'

'I think that for Tom to turn out like that, something really awful had to have happened when he was a kid. Something so dreadful that it was too hard for him to find a way out of the dark again. I suppose he tried hard at first, tried very hard. He wandered and wandered and searched and searched for a way out but eventually he gave up and believed that there was nowhere else to go. Nowhere else to turn to, and no brighter, better place that he could remember or forsee so that the darkness was all he had left. So he clung to the only thing that he had and never let it go.'

'…'

'…'

'Wow. That's pretty deep… and kind of creepy too. Since when did you get so insightful? And, not to mention, eloquent.'

'I don't know. So that's my theory, I guess.'

'…'

'…'

'What was it like – in your first year? … Oh! I mean, I'll understand if you don't want to answer because it's private and I'm invading your per-'

'Hermione.'

'-sonal space and everything. I don't know what came over me. I shouldn't have asked you that, I'm sorry – you don't have to feel like you have to –'

'Hermione. It's alright. You don't have to apologize.'

'-reply to any of my nonsensical quest- what?'

'Hermione, in case you've forgotten, I brought up the subject of Tom.'

'…So you did. But I still feel rotten. I didn't have a right to ask you that.'

'I'll have to talk about it with someone. I didn't – couldn't tell mum and dad. They would have coddled me and worried about me for the rest of my days, which would have been really annoying and well… I guess I didn't want to disappoint them.'

'Why on earth would they be disappointed?'

'Because I didn't stop him… I didn't fight back or anything, or stop him from opening the Chamber. Because… I was the one who was _helping_ him do all those horrible things.'

'Oh, Gin. How can you believe that? That's not true!'

'But it is! That _is _the truth. If I didn't write in that diary then none of it would have happened.'

'Ginny, you were only eleven. You couldn't have known.'

'Harry was old enough to go through all those traps to save the Philosopher's Stone from Voldemort when he was eleven.'

'Don't be like that Ginny – I am not just saying this to make you feel better. Listen to me – it was not your fault. We aren't all heroes like Harry, you know. You do your best and fight your hardest and that is all that anyone can ask of you. Sometimes even your best is not enough… but that's what heroes are for, aren't they?'

'…'

'…'

'Hermione?'

'Hmmm?'

'… I-It was dark, I remember. I was so scared. A-at first I was just a little girl writing to somebody who I thought finally understood me and then it just got so bad… The first time it happened, I was confused, you know. I-I… there was so much blood… feathers when I woke up. In the Chamber. It was cold, I didn't know where I was or, or how I got there and the blood was everywhere. I can see it so clearly, just like yesterday. I can smell it, even, a-and… _feel_ it over my hands. God Hermione, I had nightmares for ages after that. About the blood and that terrible blank space in my memories between the end of classes and when I woke up.'

'… Oh, Ginny-'

'Am I a bad person?'

'W-What? No! No – you aren't! Why are you asking me this?'

'Tom's diary was lying beside me in the Chamber. I-I should have realized, Hermione! I should've _known_ that something was wrong with it! I should've worked it out! … I could have stopped it, but I was so stupid. I kept on writing.'

'Ginny, if Voldemort made his diary like I think he did, then he made it for the express purpose to resurrect himself in the case of something happening to him in the future. Don't you think he would have designed it deliberately just to ensnare somebody's mind to accomplish this? All those enchantments to have him being able to talk to you – don't you think there would others to catch your attention, reel you in, beguile you into thinking a mere book could understand you more than a person?'

'Well, I… I never thought about that before.'

'Of course you haven't – it _is_ my job after all! With all those escapades with two rash idiots… What I'm really trying to say is that you were just the victim there. Voldemort is, was, an extremely powerful wizard – it's not so easy for somebody of only eleven to figure out his intentions.'

'But-'

'Since when have I been wrong?'

'…'

'Exactly.'

'There's just no winning against you is there?'

'No.'

'Hermione… Thanks.'

'For what?'

'Everything.'

* * *

Sigh - Nobody tends to do Hermione and Ginny friendship scenes on their lonesome these days. Or maybe it's because I haven't actually been reading Harry Potter fanfics for the last... half year or so. Hope you liked reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. And please - puppy dog eyes - review!


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